Saturday 7 November 2020

Tears of a 'town

The only American The Beat I acknowledge belongs to ESG. That's my diplomatic way of saying it was an act of cultural imperialism that The Beat had to rename themselves The English Beat for the U.S.A when 'Murica's own The Beat were little more than a Costco Cheap Trick. Certainly, the so-called English Beat went on to have far greater cultural impact stateside than their Yank namesake with various songs popping up in Hollywood movies over the decades - most notably Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Grosse Point Blank, and some shitty Spiderman flick. Ultimately, The Beat U.S.A was aiight, they was cool, but they never recorded anything as John Blaze as Mirror In The Bathroom, Ranking Full Stop, or Tears Of A Clown.

The Beat - Tears Of A Clown
(From I Just Can't Stop It album; 1980)



A glaring ommission from my Cover Me Good list, tbqh - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles gave it wings, The Beat made it fly. Same happy music/sad lyrics contrast as the O.G version, but with the whimsical Motown sweetness replaced by spiky 2 Tone Ska. Plus, a saxophone solo and Ranking Roger's outro!

Final score: 2 Tone - two, Motown - one.

8 comments:

L.A said...

Save It For Later is in Hot Tub Time Machine too.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

The forthcoming sequel to Danny Dyer's The Business needs a Beat song imo.

Anonymous said...

They had to call themselves The British Beat down under.

https://www.discogs.com/The-British-Beat-I-Just-Cant-Stop-It/release/2793543

Icesickle Ruined Grosse Point Blank For Me said...

Always liked how Ferris still found time to chirps those girls during his mad dash home.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Spartan, he was always on-brand even in times of crisis.

Anonymous, that's disgraceful 😄 Their classic band logo looks so stupid with the words English/British inserted above.

Anonymous said...

What ever happened to the 'real' Common Sense and Biggie Smalls?

Superbrad said...

The Beat had a ton of great singles.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Best Friend is another personal fave.